Founder’s Daily Prayers

Every day there are three short prayers waiting for you: one for the morning, one for noon, and one for the night. Each takes about five to ten minutes, and each is built around a single thing: a reading from Scripture, read slowly.

You begin with the Sign of the Cross and a short hymn of praise. Then you read the passage, with a few quiet questions to help you listen: What word stays with you? What is Jesus saying to you today? You rest in a moment of silence. Then you answer with a verse from the psalms and a short antiphon, pray three intentions, and end with one of the Church’s best-loved prayers (the Our Father, the Hail Mary, or the Glory Be) and a short closing prayer of our own.

I wrote these prayers for myself first. On the days I pray best, I turn to God three times: before the day starts pulling at me, in the middle of it, and when it is done. I wanted a gentle pattern I could pick up even when I was tired, one that put the Gospel at the center and let me hear Jesus speak to me. These are the prayers I wished I had. I am sharing them because I think many of us need the same thing.

To help you know Jesus, not just know about him. The first prayer you open each day gives you that day’s Gospel, the same Gospel the Church reads at Mass (on a feast with two Gospels, you see both).

When you open another prayer the same day, you meet other important passages of the Bible, and a lesson of Jesus, such as one of the Beatitudes or a parable, helps you reflect. That way the Word stays with you instead of being left at breakfast. The psalm verse and antiphon give you words to say back when your own run out. And among your intentions you will pray for people who have asked for prayer, which joins your voice to others.

The Hours, here on Prayer on Fire, are the Church’s way of praising God through the psalms. Founder’s Daily Prayers are a different kind of prayer: quieter and more personal, built around Scripture and above all the Gospel, in the old tradition of lectio divina (reading, reflecting, resting, responding). They are not the Mass and not the official prayer of the Hours. Use one, or both.

The first prayer you open on a day shows that day’s Gospel. The other prayers you open that day show key passages instead. On a feast with two Gospels, the first prayer shows both, the Mass Gospel first.

The Scripture text is the Catholic Public Domain Version, which is in the public domain. The antiphons, hymns, lead-ins, and reflections are original to Prayer on Fire, or are public-domain hymns credited beside them.